Number 12 - Daily Routine

12. Describe a typical day in your current life.

My days usually start between 6:30-8:30 am and they usually start one of two ways:  I hear soft talking and giggling from the crib in the next room...happy noises.  Perfect way to start the day.  Less perfect if the hour is pre-8am but lovely noises nonetheless.  Second way my day might start: shrieks and screams jolt me awake and I try to run to the next room before the screaming/crying kid (often of the male variety in this house) wakes the other kid.  These are less than ideal mornings and may or may not indicate how the rest of the day will go.

Once it's clear that we're up for the day, we drag ourselves out of bed and get something for Kayden to eat.  That girl starts the day HUNGRY and will rarely wait for breakfast for more than 20 minutes after waking for the day.  Once she's happily snacking on whatever we can find (often a muffin from the freezer - not thawed...she seems to prefer it that way, screaming if we put it in the microwave), we try to convince Levi to eat something too.  He is a grazer.  A VERY light grazer and trying to convince him to eat is like pulling teeth.  I seriously wish I could inject nourishment into him some days because he gets grumpy as ever without food (a trait lovingly passed down from his daddy) yet is quite picky and rarely feels like eating.  Not helpful, buddy.

With the kids eating, I often check a little fb/email before sitting down to eat my own breakfast.  Why check those things first, you ask?  Well, the first few minutes that the kids are hungrily ingesting breakfast are quiet and uninterrupted.  If I can get the morning check out of the way, I can put my phone away for a few hours and just BE.  While we're having breakfast, Nathan is getting ready for work and usually walks out the door while we're still at the table (though not before kissing us each good-bye!).

After breakfast we get dressed and the kids play.  If I have anything to do that day like laundry, baking, etc, now is the time I start that. Sometimes we head outside after breakfast, especially now that it's nice outside. Around 10-10:30, Kayden goes down for her morning nap and Levi and I have about an hour to play together - or else I continue whatever it is that I'm doing that day (laundry, etc).  Once Kayden wakes up, it is almost lunch time so I get some lunch ready while two hungry kids play in the kitchen and beg for snacks.  I put lunch on the table and if I've served anything but noodles and hot dogs, I hear, "Mama, I don't like what you made!"  cue: tears and running to the couch to pout (Levi).  Mama gets frustrated but says very calmly, "Well, Levi, that's what we're having today.  You can either eat it or wait for supper."  He usually ends up eating it :)

After lunch, the kids play for a few more minutes while I clear the table and before long Kayden is ready for her afternoon nap, which is about 2-2.5 hours after she wakes up from her morning nap.  She goes to bed and Levi heads to the living room for quiet time.  I set the timer for 75 minutes on the microwave and usually head to the couch to do some crocheting.  Or painting the last two days.  But most often this is my crocheting time.  These are the only 75 minutes in my day that are MINE.  Though Levi's "regularity" has timed itself to quiet time so I usually hear a plea and end up having to tend to bathroom duties once or twice during this time.  Though Levi has started taking himself to the bathroom so I only need to go to "finish up" in there.  So nice.

When the microwave timer goes, I hear "Mama, can I come out now?" from the living room and I call "Come!" to him.  He runs to me with a big smile on his face (quiet time is good for BOTH of us!) and says, "Mama, I want to watch a cooking show!" and "Mama, I want a snack."  So I get him a snack - afternoon snack is a "treat" snack...this is the time of day when he knows he gets something sugary/salty for a snack.  The rest of the time when he asks for snacks, he gets offered fruit or cheese or whatever else healthy I can think of.  But right after quiet time we throw proper nutrition out the window and he can have a cookie or some candy or melted chocolate with chips to dip.  And he loves cooking shows.  It has to be close to a year now that he has asked to watch cooking shows with me.  I can't complain!

When Kayden wakes up, I give her some snack too and, once snack is finished, we go outside for a bit.  That is, if we have time.  I try to get myself and the kids out at least a bit every day.  It's hard to squeeze it in sometimes between naps and meals and snacks (especially in winter when "going outside" is an hour-long activity with all the snow suits and boots that need to be put on!).  But we try to get out for fresh air at this point.  Around 4-4:30 I start some supper (earlier if it's something that takes longer, obviously).  Nathan gets home usually between 5-5:30 and I try to have supper ready between 5-6.  After supper, I do the dishes and Nathan plays with the kids.  It may seem like work to have to do the dishes after a full day and preparing the meal BUT, it is quite relaxing to know that for those 30 minutes I have no kid responsibility.  All I need to do is get the dishes done, the house tidied, and floor swept.  Aah...

Around 7pm we start bedtime routine.  The kids watch some shows on the computer while they have night snack at the table. Levi's favourite is a Leap Frog Word Whammer show that Nathan found on Youtube. It's a show about learning to read.  Kayden rarely watches as long as Levi so she gets some one-on-one time with either me or Nathan for a bit before bed. Then it's time to brush teeth (Kayden actually has some teeth now so she gets in on this as of 6 weeks ago!), pee, and get into pj's.  Levi chooses two stories and Kayden sits at the bookshelf and "reads" her board books while either Nathan or I reads Levi his stories.  Kayden's favourite is "The Monster at the End of this Book."  She reads it every night and will often hold it out to us so that we will read it to her too.  But if we try to read Kayden more than one story, Levi jumps in and says, "No!  Kayden is only allowed to have one story!"  He is one for rules, that boy.  He is only allowed to have two stories and Kayden is only allowed to have one.  No if's, and's or but's.  That's how it is.  With stories read, it's into bed for the kids. By this time it is often close to 8:30pm.  We pray with them, tuck them in, and turn on their bedtime music.  Sometimes they are asleep before we even leave the room it seems, while other nights (like tonight) they play together until after 9pm before falling asleep.

After the kids are in bed, I tidy the house one last time.  I put away what's left of night snack.  Then, once I'm sure that absolutely every chore that I feel I need to do is finished (I hate the feeling of sitting down and then realizing there's more I need to do), I sit on the couch and pull out my crocheting again.  10-10:30pm rolls around and it's time to head to bed.  The light is usually not out before 11 though.  And goodnight.  The kids mostly sleep through the night, though probably 1 in every 3 nights one of the kids is up for the bathroom or teething or something.  But sleeping through the night 60% of the time is feeling SO good.  It was a long 3 years of being up much, much more than that. :)

Pictures, anyone?

Levi loves to help vacuum.  I'm not complaining!

Enjoying the dog :)

Love these two and their special connection :)

Bath night! 

I love that just-woke-up look...

Sleeping girl...perfection.

She's learned the wrinkled nose look from the best...her brother.  She pulls it off pretty well and has made it her own too :)

There's the boy's version of the wrinkled nose smile :)

Cutie.

hehe.  This happens so much.

Marble maze made from lego.  Turned out to be more frustrating than fun...but I'll store this idea in my back pocket for another rainy day when Levi's a little older.  With a little more coordination, I think it could be a good time!

quiet, but not gone.

This blog is sadly neglected.  It's not that I don't have anything to write.  I do think of things.  It's just that, when I sit down to write it, it's all gone.  Like, completely not there anymore.  I open up good 'ol blogger and it's just gone.  I guess that's what long days with kids (and long nights with kids) will do to you.  I find that my memory is just not there anymore.  I chalk it up to sleep-deprivation but I hear it never comes back once you're a mom so who knows.  Maybe it's gone for good.

I do notice that alot of the things that I think of during the day are just not enough for a complete blog post.  I think of plenty of things that I think I should blog about but then realize that I've got about a facebook status worth of words about that topic.  So it either goes on fb or just doesn't get said.  Usually the later.

For example:
Levi calls coyotes "kye-roots".  It's super cute.  Cute that he talks about "kye-roots" at all but extra cute that he says it like he does.  I've stopped correcting his pronunciation on these sorts of words.  It is just too fun to listen to him talk and once he realizes the real way to say it, he will never say it the cute way again.  For example, the word "music" used to be "moogit."  Adorable.  Simply adorable. But now, if I say "moogit" to him, he just looks at me funny.  *sigh*  My boy is growing up.  So I'll soak up all the "kye-root" talk while I have it :)

Next random thought I had: As I was driving home from visiting my parents today, I was thinking about parenting (surprise!).  Specifically, how there's a difference between how I thought I would be as a parent vs. how I actually am.  Or maybe more how I thought parenting would be vs. how it actually is.  Before I was a parent, I would sometimes see how other people would parent their kids and I would mentally make note of whether I would be "that type" of parent or not. I would see how parents reacted to their kids and either think "that's how I would like to react to my kids one day" or "I would do that so differently." Everyone does it. It's not necessarily good but, as long as you're not running the parent down in your mind because of what they're doing, it's not necessarily bad either. As someone who wants to be a parent ever-so-badly, you are just always taking notes.  But anyway, I'm not justifying it, just saying that's what I did.  I would spend lots of time thinking about what kind of mom I wanted to be and what kinds of things I would do as a mom...and just thinking about what parenting would be like.  And when I did that, in my mind I was a pretty good mom! Well, potential mom.  And then parenting hit.  And in the first few weeks/months, I felt like I was running off of pure adrenaline.  I'd wanted to be a mom SO bad that I had "years of desire" fueling my every action, my every moment.  I had patience coming out the wazoo.  I had motivation and ideas and went the extra mile for everything.  And then I got tired.  So.very.tired.  Sleepless nights.  Long days full of tantrums.  Lots of beautiful moments, but lots of bleary-eyed, less-than-perfect moments too.  And I suddenly understood why those moms who I watched back in the day did what they did.  Why they sounded the way they sounded.  Why they didn't go the extra mile every time.  Why they reacted the way they reacted (and didn't necessarily have the patient answer that I would certainly have had in that situation).  When you're thinking about being a mom, you see everything through rose-coloured glasses.  But when you get there and you're knee-deep in dirty diapers (literally) and haven't slept in who knows how long and have one kid crying on the kitchen floor because his lunch is being served ON the table and not UNDER the table (yes, actually) and another one crying on your hip...things just look different.  That adrenaline and idealism wears off and you find out exactly what it's like to be there.  And you make choices from that place.  Now, the reason I've never written this before is because it's hard to put into words.  What am I talking about, really?  It's a bunch of mumble-jumble, most likely.  I'm not saying that I hate being a mom.  I'm not saying that I'm a bad mom or that I'm making decisions that I'll regret.  I'm just saying that I now understand where those moms were at.  They were acting from a place of having spent years in the "trenches."  Sure I would have handled some of those situations differently at the time, but I would have also been coming in fresh...having had a full night's sleep and with a clear mind, not one smeared with peanut butter and kid-snot.  I thought I would be one of those moms who was so very polished.  Who had a weekly menu posted in her kitchen, crafts and quiet-time activities planned long in advance for the kid who no longer thinks he needs naps, clothes folded and put away at the end of every laundry day.  And in reality, alot of the time I actually feel a bit like a chicken with my head cut off.  I feel like I'm playing catch-up instead of anticipating and being ready for things.  I forget every little thing (even though I used to have a memory like a vault, people). I'm scrambling to come up with supper at 4pm each day.  And sometimes I have a preschooler who is freaking out and I just have to sit back because I have no clue as to what I should be doing or how I should "gently guide him out of his frustration." I'm not the mom I thought I would be.  But you know what?  That's ok.  Because I love my kids. And I love their daddy. I make sure they're fed and clothed and taught and happy.  I may not have the perfectly clean, perfectly organized home that I always thought I'd have, but you know what?  Kids don't need polish.  They don't need to know that their mom has everything planned and scheduled and organized.  They need to know that they are safe.  And loved.  And no matter how tired I am, how impatient or forgetful I am, or how worn down I sometimes feel...my kids have that.  They feel safe and secure and loved and THAT is what matters.  So I guess I had a round-about way of saying that.  Sorry.   That's what happens when I sit down and don't know what to type.

I think I'll leave it at that for tonight.  That got a lot longer than I thought it would.  Apparently I do have more than fb status-length thoughts.  Huh.  Who knew?  Now the real test will be whether the thoughts are coherent enough for anyone to follow what I just wrote...?

Picture Post

Daddy and daughter

Some good old sibling lovin'

More sibling loving

We had this hat made before Kayden was born for her to wear at the hospital and it finally fits her!  Yay!

Love the pudgy handed eye rub :)

My girl still has the bluest of eyes!

Things Levi says...

I've been collecting a list of things Levi says at this stage in his life.  He is so entertaining!  This list goes back as far as January (he doesn't say all of these things anymore) but is added to daily! Ones that are starred (*) are things he is still currently saying...

*"Deeeeelicious!" - when eating something he thinks is yummy
*"No thank you." - said when many other two-year olds would yell "NO!"
"Moooooommy!  Where arrrrrrre you??" - yelled as he's looking for me in the house
"Mommy, stay happy."
*"Lettuce" - Lennox (our dog)
*"Lettuce and Cucumber" - Lennox and our second dog (that we are NOT getting)
*"Kinny" - kitty
"Oh well." - what a passive aggressive little phrase...
"No boy like.  Too yucky." - when he doesn't like a food (or thinks he doesn't like it)
*"Not bedtime, night-night time!" - he refuses to call bedtime by any other name than night-night time
"Oh yes it is _______." - when he thinks he knows better, for example: "oh yes it is Friday!" (when it's really Monday
"Look at this called?" - instead of "what is this called?" - he's figured this one out now
"A, B, vie O, U!" - vowels
*"Gamma Bapa Tick Tock" - Buhler grandparents (now gamma gampa/bapa) - have a clock that he's noticed and associates them with
*"Gamma Bapa Lello Puppy" - McC grandparents (also now gamma gampa/bapa) - have a golden retriever
*"What you doing here?"
"Where did that puppy (Lennox) go?"
"Where did that Baby Kayden go?"
*"Boy type please?" - use word on my computer to type letters
*"wheels on the bus go round and round all day long puzzle" - school bus puzzle (also calls school busses that whole thing minus "puzzle")
*"Open the door peas?" - when he wants the door open or for us to open our arms and let him free
*"Put it riiiiight overrrr there."
*"Moogit" - music
*"I turn the moogit on for you, Daddy/Mommy!" - everything he does is for someone
*"Grey-bear" - threadbare except his socks are grey, therefore grey-bear
*"Long-berry" - library
*"Jumpoline" - trampoline
*"Mow-mows" - marshmallows
*"doodoes and dot-dows" - noodles and hot dogs (favourite lunch food)
*"Kayden eats out of mommy's tummy" - I'll take it
*"Room-a-room" - living room
*"Vroom nigh-nigh" - his bed (because daddy brought it to our house in a truck when we bought it, which he called a vroom at the time)
*"wee!" - slide
*"Tempurpur" - temperature as in "take my tempurpur please?" when he feels sick
*"Daddy...me" - switching daddy to mommy or vice versa when he realizes he said the wrong name
*"Sweetie" - calls Kayden this
*"Miss Kayden"
*"Daddy stuff" - daddy's pomade that he lies to have is hair done spiky with (but only on Sundays or when we're leaving the house for something special but NOT on days when we're just hanging out at home)
*"Loop-a-loop" - Froot Loops
*"Doodle-doo cereal" - Corn flakes
*"A B Cereal" - Alphabits
*"No, nigh-night time!" - he corrects us if we call "nigh-nigh time" by any other name (bedtime)
*"I'm two me-olds." - I'm two years old, said whenever he wants two treats or two stories or more than one of anything
*"Quiet-bye" - lullaby

Likeness...

Well, these two are definitely siblings, though they each have their own looks! Levi is about 5 weeks old in the picture and Kayden is 3 months old. Any guesses on who's who??  Yeah, I know.  Pretty obvious.  But hey, it's still fun to compare, no?

Today in sentences.

It is way chillier than the last day of April should ever be.

Levi and I (with Nathan's help at noon) put up our new trampoline!

I am hoping the trampoline will be a fun energy-buster (and hopefully not bone-buster!) this summer.

Levi said he didn't want his trains upstairs but I brought them up anyway and he played with them for a good long time :)

Mommy knows best.

I am loving to read again these days...haven't read much of anything since Levi was born, or at least not more than one book every couple months!


I'm taking a bit of an unofficial break from my Uniquely Me Design business; still taking orders but not advertising.  I only have so much energy each day and right now there are two little people who deserve my energy much more than the business world does.

I've never anticipated spring so much as this year; having a 2 year old boy in the same 4 walls for 6 unending months produces cabin fever to the highest degree!

If I had a day completely to myself, I would either go through our house and purge the extras/spring clean OR sleep the entire day.  (It would be a toss-up.)

I've been finding myself quite home-sick for California these past few months, and for more reasons than just the weather!  It really became home while we were there...

Levi is has finally graduated into the "good sleeper" category!  I'd say he sleeps through the night about 50-75% of the time now (though you'd have to ask Nathan as he's been getting up with him to take him pee and I've been sleeping through Levi's wakings - yet am up as soon as Kayden so much as breathes differently when she wakes up!)

A couple months ago I put a lock on my phone and moved my games so that Levi couldn't find them, thus convincing him that my games were gone.  It broke his habit of always wanting to play phone, which was nice!  In a moment of weakness, I moved the games back and removed the lock.  Levi found them and is back to "please play your phone please mommy?"  I put the lock back on so that I decide when he plays :)

These sentences are getting longer and longer.

I love having a girl and a boy.

I would have loved having two boys just as much. :D

I am amazed every day at the breadth of Levi's vocabulary...yesterday he opened the windows and told me "I make the house fresh for you, Mommy!"

Thinking about switching to cloth wipes in addition to my cloth diapers...thoughts?

Lennox needs a serious grooming.  I sweep regularly and it is still like walking on sandpaper in here with the amount of dirt/sand he tracks in every day.

I'm obviously running out of things to say.

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Here's a couple pictures taken just this morning to finish off the post in style:

Two and a half

Levi is just 4 days away from being 2.5 years old! 

He is such a character.  He loves to make us laugh. 

He loves to serve.

"I make cookies for you, Daddy!" 

"I help set the table!"

"I get a diaper and wipe for you, Mommy!" 

He is also very two and we've had our battles of the will (and more to come, I'm sure).  From who fills up the water jug to what cd he listens to at night...anything and everything is grounds for a meltdown.  But we're dealing with it in the best way we can and the tantrums seem to go in stages which says to me that he's testing the waters, seeing what it means to be more independent and trying to make decisions for himself (though not quite knowing how to communicate when something doesn't go the way he thinks it should). 

Children aren't born knowing how to communicate.  It is our job as parents to help them understand how to do that.  And it is our job to be patient as they begin to exert their independence.  (Yup, still working on this).

Levi loves puppies.  Levi loves cooking.  Levi loves trucks and machines.  Levi loves to count.  Levi loves letters.  Levi loves puzzles.  Levi loves slides.  Levi loves tents.  Levi loves animals.  Levi loves taking people to his room, closing the door and enjoying some quality time playing together.  Levi loves stories.  Levi loves playing piano.  Levi loves music.  Levi loves helping me transplant my houseplants.

Levi "no like" broccoli (too yucky).  Levi "no like" touching sticky things.  Levi "no like" having his hair washed.  Levi "no like" carbonation.  Levi "no like" socks with holes.  Levi "no like" daddy shows (sports). 

Levi, like every two year old, says the most interesting and hilarious things. 

"Garburate" as in "Here, Kayden, I garburate you!" (vibrating chair)
"I love you, Buddy." - said to Kayden just this morning
"Puppy LOVE me!" - while he holds Lennox in a headlock hug.
"Lettuce" as in "Lettuce, go get your ball!"
"Oh well" when he is not allowed to do something or when we are out of his favourite cereal.
"Buy more" when we are out of his favourite cereal.
"Oh well, buy a new one" when Mommy gets the van stuck in the snow bank.

I love our boy so much.   He is a perfect fit in our family (interesting how we always get the perfect ones for us, right?).  He is obviously still adjusting to having a sibling, but he is doing so so well.  We are incredibly proud of him for all the ways he is growing and learning every day.  There are many days when Nathan comes home from work and asks how Levi has been and I can honestly say that "he is an absolute delight!" 

Reflections on Motherhood

Tonight as I sat on the edge of Levi's bed, one hand being held by a sleepy Levi and the other wrapped around a sleeping Kayden, both children silent and still with me in the same moment, I felt such an unexpected rush of gratitude.  I've known for my entire life that I wanted to be a mom.  That this is what I was created to be.  And yet, in those 25 years of being preparing, nothing could have fully prepared me for the amount of love that is bursting forth for these two children today. 

Levi is a handful these days.  He is feeling the loss of having mommy and daddy all to himself and it is often coming out in testing ways.  And yet, tonight after supper, he and I spent 15 minutes just laughing together.  Sitting at the table and looking at each other and laughing uncontrollably with each other for no reason other than being happy to be together.

Kayden is so sweet.  She does cry, occasionally, and sometimes it's for no apparent reason at all, but my heart is so full when I look into her eyes and she looks into mine!  My love for her just grows every day as I get to know her more and as our connection deepens.

I am incredibly blessed to be able to call these two children mine.  They are indeed gifts from God and I will never take them for granted.  Having three years to ponder what life might look like without children has landed me in a place now of being humbled and grateful, a place unlike any I would have been in without that period of waiting. 

When we named our children, we took into consideration the meanings of their names, middle names especially. We gave Levi the name "Jonathan" because it means "God has given."  We gave Kayden the name "Grace" because it is by God's grace that we are fully healed and that Nathan and I have not one but two beautiful children.

So tonight I am feeling extra thankful for these two wonders who share life with us.  And thankful that I am called their mother.  All praise to HIM...forever and ever.

Picture Post - thankful

 We have been so blessed.  Worth the wait :)

Life - a picture post

 Here's a little of what we've been up to these past 3 weeks (in no particular order)...

My Mom was out for almost a week to help out.  Thanks Mom!

Sleeping Kayden...we prayed for a good sleeper for 9 months and low and behold, our prayers have been answered!  That said, sleeping at NIGHT is hit or miss...

Levi took his first photos of Kayden...not bad!

More sleeping Kayden...she's chubbing up!  This was taken yesterday.

This was during our first week at home.  Levi LOVES his sister!

Sweet little baby hands...

Me and my girl :)

Family time...

Me and my almost two and a half year old!  Love this boy!

My sister (Auntie Ia) came for a week to help out after my mom was here.  Thanks Ia! (Kayden is all bundled in a beautiful bunting bag that my sister designed and made for her)

First week at home.

First week at home.

First week at home...love these two SO much!

Blanket that I made for Kayden before she was born

haha!

Life is going good.  Kayden is 3 weeks old today and it was my first day at home alone with both kids.  It went really really well.  Levi was amazing and I had such a good day with the kids.  That said, now it's 8:51pm and I'm tired.  I'll admit, the thought of being up multiple times tonight and then looking alive in the morning to have fun with my two year old all day (over and over and over again until little miss starts sleeping through the night) is feeling a little daunting.  Feel free to pray for energy for me so that I can enjoy these days to their fullest!  Levi and Kayden are such blessings...I want to give them my very best and when I'm tired, that's not usually what comes to the surface!

January 27's past...

Every once in a while I like to open my journal or blog and find entries that were written on this day in previous years.  Because it would be difficult to copy all the pictures from previous posts into this one, I'll just have to give you the links and let you read them from their original locations.  I can assure you, they really are a fun trip down memory lane!  Let's start at the beginning:

January 27, 2009 (the year we moved to Cali...knowing this will make the post much funnier.  I don't think we knew that we were moving yet at this point though...)

January 27, 2010 (pictures from our trip to San Francisco with my sister and her visit in Cali)

January 27, 2011 (picture post from Levi's fourth month)

Apparently I've only written on January 27 three times since I started blogging (or four if you count this post).  Huh.  Has anyone been reading from the beginning?  Anyone remember those first posts when I was back at Thoughts From Second Street? Now THAT was a while ago!  A lifetime ago, it feels like...

ENJOY!

It's beginning to look alot like baby...

I mentioned in my last post that we put up the crib the other day.  I thought I'd share some pictures from that because hey...what's more adorable than a boy helping his daddy?

It's especially adorable when it's YOUR boy and the daddy is YOUR husband :)

Also, don't forget to leave your baby guesses here on the blog (boy/girl, size, date)!  I've made a handy-dandy poll so it's easy to vote, but if you're SURE that you'll be right, leave your guess in the comments (I've made it so that anyone can vote, even without signing in) so you get due credit for your prediction :D